Chair’s Welcome

I am delighted as Chair of the Friends to welcome you to our website. Bushy Park and Home Park are two wonderful large green oases in the south west corner of London. Feeling wild, they are natural places with ancient histories, fascinating heritage and superb wildlife. Both are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) containing rare species. These are places to be enjoyed and conserved. Which is why the Friends exist, campaigning, supporting and protecting the parks, and enhancing visitors’ enjoyment with information, advice and guidance.

We are always pleased to receive feedback. You can contact us by clicking here.

Keep Up-to-date

Members and non-members can receive emails about events in the parks. To subscribe, please enter your email address below.

Volunteer Community Rangers Recruitment

The Royal Parks charity is looking to recruit 20 volunteers for the first stage of its Volunteer Community Ranger trial.

The trial will start in Bushy and Richmond Parks, the two largest of London’s eight Royal Parks. Together they provide over 3,500 acres of historic parkland and are home to over a 1,000 deer.

Between April and October, the community rangers will aim to improve the visitor experience in both Royal parks by educating visitors on the wildlife and history of the parks and giving tips on how to protect them.

The trial hopes to emulate the success of similar initiatives in the capital including the Park Champions at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Team London Ambassadors.

Volunteers need to be over 18 and must be able to commit one day a fortnight (on a weekend), between April and October.

Full training will be given.

Deadline for applications is 20 January 2019

This link will take you to The Royal Parks website and online application form:

“The service is being introduced with two things in mind. First, to improve the experience of the eight million visitors who come to Bushy and Richmond Parks, and want to learn more about their nature, history and horticulture. And second, to push our conservation messages of leaving no trace and being respectful to the wildlife that inhabit these parks.

“Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve, and both parks have been designated by Natural England as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Protecting the parks, and the thousand of species that flourish here, from the endangered stag beetle to the soulful skylark, is a key aim of this initiative.”

If you have any questions about this role or want to discuss your application please contact: Joanna Haywood on jhaywood@royalparks.org.uk or 0300 061 2183

Deer Accident

We are sorry to have to record the deer accident injuring a young girl on Wednesday 24 October. The Royal Parks and the Friends of Bushy and Home Parks are continually warning visitors to refrain from getting too close to the deer, especially during the Rut and at birthing time. That is a distance of 50 metres. The unfortunate accident occurred because that advice was ignored. PLEASE treat the deer in the same way that you will treat any wild animal.

The child, thought to be aged seven, sustained a leg injury in the incident at Bushy Park in south-west London on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesman for the park explained that eyewitnesses said the girl’s family was “standing very close to the stag and taking photos”. It is understood that the stag stood up to move away but its antlers injured the girl’s leg because she was so close.

Paramedics and London’s Air Ambulance attended the park at about 15:30 BST.

‘Immensely strong’

Assistant park manager Bill Swan said: “This distressing incident is an unfortunate but powerful warning to everyone why it is dangerous to approach stags during the autumn rutting season, and at any time in fact.
“Stags are wild animals, and they are especially unpredictable at this time of year, and can act defensively if they are aggravated or feel cornered.
“They are immensely strong and can move very fast to defend themselves, even from lying down when resting.
“We have warning signs at key locations across Bushy Park asking people to stay at least 50m away from the deer; people must keep their distance to prevent such incidents occurring.”
According to the Royal Parks, there are more than 300 wild deer in Bushy Park”

Sky at Night Talk

Pieter Morpurgo is giving the Hampton Wick Association his entertaining talk about his time as the BBC Producer of the Sky at Night programme, working with astronomer Patrick Moore. If you missed the opportunity to see and hear this talk when it was one of the Friends’ events last year in June, this is a chance to find out what all the excitement was about.

For all of January 2019, Waitrose Hampton are supporting our Appeal for the new Information Point at Bushy Park as one of their three local charitable causes. Waitrose Hampton donate £500 each month in this way.

Why we need more Friends

With more members our voice is stronger when we campaign to protect the Parks, and with more subscription income we can do more to provide information and education about the Parks, their wildlife and their history.

Latest report

Information Point

The Information Point next to the Pheasantry Welcome Centre café is where our volunteers help visitors find out more about the parks and where visitors can purchase souvenirs of your visit to support our work.

Click this panel to visit our Information Point section and also to find out how you can get involved as a volunteer.